Sarasota puts 2 workers on paid leave amid investigation

Published: Monday, January 9, 2012 at 8:37 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, January 9, 2012 at 8:37 p.m.

SARASOTA - A director and manager in Sarasota's Information Technology Department have been placed on paid administrative leave amid an investigation into whether city officials deleted public records and accessed secret materials tied to an ongoing federal investigation.

Chance Craig, the city IT director, and Sandra Coleman, an IT manager, were placed on leave Friday after an outside computer expert said techs had used the city email system to spy on auditors, helped delete public records and delivered emails to the city manager's office that were supposed to remain secret.

Craig did not respond to phone calls to his home; Coleman also could not be reached for comment.

"Chance and Sandy have been placed on administrative leave with pay pending further investigation," Karen McGowan, deputy city auditor and clerk, confirmed Monday. "Their machines were taken by the city for safekeeping."

CDs and a thumb drive were also handed over by City Manager Bob Bartolotta and Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown, who are subjects of the investigation. The moves come as the City Commission last week voted to turn results of the outside investigation over to the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Craig earns a base salary of about $92,000 per year, city records show; his contract provides for three month's salary as severance if he is fired, but that could be withheld if he is convicted of a crime.

Coleman could not be reached Monday, but last week she denied any involvement in the alleged deletion of 11,000 emails, 100 of which have yet to be retrieved.

The two were placed on leave by City Auditor and Clerk Pamela Nadalini, who commissioned an investigation into the IT department after allegations of email "scrubbing" surfaced in October, just days after she had taken control of the department.

Meanwhile, Nadalini, the city's primary provider of information to the public, has ordered that no employees under her speak to the media, sources said.

Nadalini has not responded to multiple attempts to reach her since last week, when she scheduled a series of closed-door meetings with commissioners and representatives of the forensic computer firm. Those meetings, according to one public meetings expert, could have violated the Florida open records law.

City Attorney Robert Fournier, who attended the meetings with commissioners, said Nadalini complied with Florida's open meetings laws because no information was relayed from one commissioner to another.

"I can unequivocally state that no comments were relayed among individual commissioners and no commissioner was asked how he or she intended to vote at the special meeting on Friday," Fournier wrote in an email.

The paid suspensions of IT techs came Friday, shortly after Bartolotta narrowly kept his job, with two of five commissioners voting to fire him.

That vote came after John Jorgensen, the CEO of local computer forensics firm Sylint, detailed in a public meeting that Bartolotta and Brown had accessed emails pertinent to an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Both Bartolotta and Brown have denied any wrongdoing.

"I still feel that I've done nothing wrong," Brown said Monday. "If there was information provided to me that was not supposed to be provided, that was not my intention."

Brown, who told the Herald-Tribune he requested emails between his secretary and the auditors charged with holding him accountable, added that city policies do not prohibit him from accessing emails from the city's servers.

"Whether I am found guilty or not guilty, or exonerated or whatever," he said, "I want to see some policy changes."

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - A director and manager in Sarasota's Information Technology Department have been placed on paid administrative leave amid an investigation into whether city officials deleted public records and accessed secret materials tied to an ongoing federal investigation.</p><p>Chance Craig, the city IT director, and Sandra Coleman, an IT manager, were placed on leave Friday after an outside computer expert said techs had used the city email system to spy on auditors, helped delete public records and delivered emails to the city manager's office that were supposed to remain secret.</p><p>Craig did not respond to phone calls to his home; Coleman also could not be reached for comment.</p><p>"Chance and Sandy have been placed on administrative leave with pay pending further investigation," Karen McGowan, deputy city auditor and clerk, confirmed Monday. "Their machines were taken by the city for safekeeping."</p><p>CDs and a thumb drive were also handed over by City Manager Bob Bartolotta and Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown, who are subjects of the investigation. The moves come as the City Commission last week voted to turn results of the outside investigation over to the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.</p><p>Craig earns a base salary of about $92,000 per year, city records show; his contract provides for three month's salary as severance if he is fired, but that could be withheld if he is convicted of a crime.</p><p>Coleman could not be reached Monday, but last week she denied any involvement in the alleged deletion of 11,000 emails, 100 of which have yet to be retrieved.</p><p>The two were placed on leave by City Auditor and Clerk Pamela Nadalini, who commissioned an investigation into the IT department after allegations of email "scrubbing" surfaced in October, just days after she had taken control of the department.</p><p>Meanwhile, Nadalini, the city's primary provider of information to the public, has ordered that no employees under her speak to the media, sources said.</p><p>Nadalini has not responded to multiple attempts to reach her since last week, when she scheduled a series of closed-door meetings with commissioners and representatives of the forensic computer firm. Those meetings, according to one public meetings expert, could have violated the Florida open records law.</p><p>City Attorney Robert Fournier, who attended the meetings with commissioners, said Nadalini complied with Florida's open meetings laws because no information was relayed from one commissioner to another.</p><p>"I can unequivocally state that no comments were relayed among individual commissioners and no commissioner was asked how he or she intended to vote at the special meeting on Friday," Fournier wrote in an email.</p><p>The paid suspensions of IT techs came Friday, shortly after Bartolotta narrowly kept his job, with two of five commissioners voting to fire him.</p><p>That vote came after John Jorgensen, the CEO of local computer forensics firm Sylint, detailed in a public meeting that Bartolotta and Brown had accessed emails pertinent to an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.</p><p>Both Bartolotta and Brown have denied any wrongdoing.</p><p>"I still feel that I've done nothing wrong," Brown said Monday. "If there was information provided to me that was not supposed to be provided, that was not my intention."</p><p>Brown, who told the Herald-Tribune he requested emails between his secretary and the auditors charged with holding him accountable, added that city policies do not prohibit him from accessing emails from the city's servers.</p><p>"Whether I am found guilty or not guilty, or exonerated or whatever," he said, "I want to see some policy changes."</p>